Tuesday, May 11, 2010

When I was at the Department of Homeland Security we were trying to expand something called E-verify. E-verify would have required employers, federal departments at first, to match Information from an employee's Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 against government records. This was/is an inexpensive and easy means by which employers can determine if a potential employee is in the country legally.

Maddeningly, bafflingly, we dropped our efforts under pressure from not only liberal interest groups but conservative business organizations like the Chamber of Commerce!!! In my opinion that’s the biggest obstacle we face on the issue of illegal immigration. It’s simple supply and demand, so long as employers exist who are willing to offer illegal immigrants low-wage jobs with no benefits they’ll continue to stream across our border. The solution is to cut off the jobs.

A simple plan and true comprehensive immigration reform would be the implementation of E-verify or an equivalent program; the implementation of tough penalties against employers who hire illegal immigrants; and repeal minimum wage laws to allow employees and employers to allow workers and bosses to negotiate truly competitive wages.

If those three things are done I can guarantee the flow of illegal immigrants to the United States will stop. With E-verify the government would actually be giving employers a tool to aid them in following the law. By increasing the penalties for employers who fail to abide by the law, employers should get the message that the days of cheap, foreign labor are over. And finally by repealing minimum wage laws and allowing wage negotiation would allow for Americans to take many of the jobs now being done by illegal immigrants.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

I was reading over the latest candidate financial disclosure reports a few weeks ago and came across a curious item. There was a donation from Delegate Saxman to 20th HOD candidate Dickie Bell for $9000 (along with a donation of 5,000 in cash). Curious because it wasn’t a cash donation but an in-kind donation to the Bell campaign for polling work conducted for Delegate Saxman’s re-election bid. As you may recall Delegate Saxman withdrew from his race for re-election this summer after two distinguished terms in the House of Delegates.What makes the in-kind donation even more curious is the fact that there are reports that Delegate Saxman had upwards of $60,000 left in his campaign re-election when he withdrew this July. This leaves many local Republicans to scratching their heads over where this additional $60,000 will be going, money that was supposed to be spent toward to re-election of the Republican candidate in the 20th House District.

I get my hair cut at Lomax on 2nd Street during the school year in Richmond. Lomax is owned and operated by one of the founders of Richmond’s premier black, activist organization – the Richmond Crusade for Voters. It also happens to be the same barbershop where a certain Democratic congressman also gets his haircut. I happened to stop by the shop on the same day this “distinguished gentleman” was getting his haircut and we struck up a conversation about the gubernatorial campaign. He lamented the fact it was after Labor Day and Creigh Deeds’ campaign still hadn’t gotten around to getting Lomax’s shop a sign for his window. He also went on to criticize Deeds for not having an overarching campaign theme, “We all know Bob’s for Jobs but what’s Creigh for?”

Welcome news for Virginia Republicans – the wind is at our backs. When a prominent, Democratic elected official is so open and honest with his feelings at this stage of the campaign you know the other side is in trouble.

Bottom line – if you’re tired of a budget “crisis” springing up every two years that “requires” higher taxes, if you’re tired of ballooning budget deficits, if you’re tired of pot holes on I-95, 66 and 81 – PULL THE LEVER FOR BOB, BILL AND KEN.

They’re the only ones who have come up with comprehensive budget, tax and transportation plans.

Why should I go out and face predominately African-American audiences, get booed and jeered - when the leaders of my own party cut me out at the knees?

How many of you are called race traitor? Sell-out? Oreo? And other despicable names just for espousing a point of view shared by millions of other Americans.

How many of you have heard of Audra Shay? She's the new chair of the Young Republican Federation, who had no problem laughing when a friend of her's referred to blacks as coons. She was elected to her position by a comfortable margin.

How about Trent Lott and his idiotic statement praising Strom Thurmond - stating that our country would have been better off if Thurmond had been elected President in 1948 as a Dixiecrat. Nevermind the fact that Thurmond split from the Democrats because of civil rights.

And after every insensitive remark and stupid statement, I stand by my beloved Party. Not this time. Enough is enough. I have paid enough dues to the Party with my vote against the first black President and I am drawing a line in the sand. The racial insensitivity, the prejudice, the good ol' boy system must come to an end NOW.

This party has a choice to make - either we can be the Party of Audra Shay or Abraham Lincoln, one that looks ahead or one that longs for the America of Strom Thurmond. We can have a Party that includes me and other young professionals or one that searches for a "great white hope."

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Wow! What a summer, eh? So Chris Saxman’s promising political career has seemingly come to an end. Some would say too soon – most would say unexpectedly and at a most inopportune time for local Republicans. Well, Mr. Saxman, I bid you Godspeed and adieu. Best wishes, my friend.

Moving on, like a good Republican should and does…So I’ve spent a good deal of the summer in D.C. working for Congressman Bob Goodlatte and the House Judiciary Committee. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a lot of interesting people and working on a great many interesting issues. The research I did on the role of the Obama administration in the Chrysler and GM bailouts was quite revealing. Ladies and gentlemen, our own government is strong-arming private lenders into bad deals and handing over publicly held companies to labor unions.

And don’t even get me started on the issues of gangs – I staffed a Judiciary Committee hearing in which a prominent Democratic Congresswoman said gangbangers needed to be hugged and loved. This all came during a debate about a piece of legislation that would add billions of dollars more to the federal budget. Apparently, In D.C., the Democratic solution to gangs is to throw money at the problem, which is actually better than the Democratic solution down in Richmond, which is to do nothing. We have got to find a way to reinforce the missing link in the lives children who join gangs, we have got to encourage and strengthen the two parent homes that were once so prevalent but not nearly extinct. No amount of money or after school programs or boot camps will every replace the discipline and support that a two-parent home provides. Two parent homes are the most effective preventive measures out there.

In the category of interesting people I’d have to put Iowa Representative Steve King – a fiery anti-illegal immigrant advocate, who is passionately committed to ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King. We had a lengthy discussion on reaching Dr. King’s goal of a color blind society and he spoke with the same passion and vigor that he usually reserves for his speeches in which he implores us to enforce our immigration laws (look him up and you’ll see what I’m talking about). I also got to meet Mike Pence, a real conservative stalwart and 2012 hopeful.

Before I close this edition of Tate’s Take, I’d be remiss without mentioning the closing of all these rest stops along interstate. I travel down I-66 and 81 often, escaping from the captivity of NOVA often and have been disappointed to find my regular pit stops taken away. The Department of Transportation says it doesn’t have the money to keep them open but our gubernatorial candidates are vowing to reverse course, one 90 days after taking office, the other 60. But with what money? Here’s a novel idea – why not follow the example set by Delaware and New Jersey (yea, sometimes good things come out of Jersey, think Sinatra) and privatize the rest areas! We could lease the land to fast food chains like McDonalds and Popeyes and allow motel chains to operate.

The idea has the potential to bring in billions of additional revenue that can all be earmarked for transportation projects. Whoever ends up replacing Mr. Saxman, I hope you’re listening.